From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
I’ve been getting to grips with After Effects recently. This title sequence is the result of my initial experiments. It’s a bit flashy but was a good excuse to get my head around some aspects of animating in After Effects such as working with 3D environments.
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
The What is Textiles? exhibition was organised by Kalopsia Collective and hosted at Gallery 17 in Edinburgh. The show featured a number of embroideries from my Synchronous Hermaphrodites series alongside a broad range of textiles from around the world.
BY all accounts the exhibition was great success and there was some fantastic feedback with many visitors contributing their own thoughts with regard to ‘What Is Textiles?’. You can view some of these responses along with more photographs of the exhibition and artists work on the Kalopsia website here.
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
I created this little text reveal trailer in After Effects. Father Spike is performing in the village nativity next month so it was a good exclude to learn some animation/video production new tricks through the creation of this short promo video.
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
These are few photographs provided by Scythia of the Fibremen 3 exhibition taking place in Kherson, Ukraine, which feature my Baba Yaga embroidery.
The exhibition feature a wide selectionof textiles and fibre art from around the world all created by male practitioners. The selected art works were created by artists from 10 countries; Australia, Austria, Canada, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, and the USA.
You can view more image of the exhibition and art work on the Scythia website: www.scythiatextile.com/UK
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
I’ve been looking out for an old alphabet cross stitch pattern for a couple of weeks now for some new work but I hadn’t come across anything that suited my needs. Instead I took it upon myself to produce a cross stitch chart from an old English hand embroidered sampler from 1760.
I’ve compiled the alphabets that I’ve translated into cross stitch patterns into a single pdf document that you can download to use for yourself. The pack contains three alphabets – lower-case, upper-case, and small caps. The small sample chart above shows the large upper-case letters.
Click here to download this pdf cross-stitch chart.
Feel free to use these alphabets for your own projects. If you do use these alphabets do drop me a line – I’d love to see what you’re using tem for, and if you happen to be uploading some examples of the work you’ve produced using these charts do link back to this post so others can find it.
Happy stitching!
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
I had the pleasure of meeting Nina Falk recently following an exhibition with Kalopsia Collective in Edinburgh. We had a good discussion over a cup of tea about many things from unicorns to Christmas films as well as alternative supports for embroidery which led to my discovery that Nina had previously used her own body as a ground for embroidery.
Nina Falk has studied ‘Tailoring and Fashion’ in Stockholm, a BA Hons in ‘Textiles’ at NUA and a MA in ‘Contemporary art Theory’ at ECA. Her work breaks the boundraries between fashion, textiles and art – moving away from the labels that we often are given.
I’ve long talked with friends about the idea of stitching into skin to produce something akin to a temporary tattoo but it seems Nina has beaten me to it. These discussions inevitability arise from those moments when I’ve managed to accidentally slip a needle under the skin at the end of my finger. These moments never hurt, in fact I rarely notice that it has happened until I find that the needle is stuck. However, I found watching Nina embroidering her own body in the video below a much more uncomfortable experience. That said, it is by far one of the most interesting stitched works of art that I have come across for a long while.
You can view more of Nina’s art work and activities with Kalopsia on her webiste – www.ninafalk.co.uk
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
This is a little teaser image of some new hand embroidered cross stitched pieces that I’ve been working on lately. The works are inspired by old English and Welsh hand embroidered samplers like those I viewed in the archives at St Fagans Museum in Cardiff Earlier this year.
The works are created using counted stitch processes; primarily cross stitch but also with some blackwork embroidered embellishments too. The work pictured above is hand embroidered with cross stitch on natural linen fabric. whilst I’m using a number of old references in the creation of these new works the content of these embroideries is much more current, providing a contemporary social commentary. You will have to wait until the new year however before I unveil the first of these embroideries.
I have compiled a number of alphabet patterns from old samplers to use in these works. You can download a selection of them here to use in your own projects.
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
Following their successful exhibition earlier this year Kalopsia seeks innovative and explorational contemporary textile work in any form. From performance to tangible physical materials or from edible stitch patterns to digital light installations. Kalopsia seeks to push the boundaries of what textiles can be and establishing it’s place firmly in the contemporary art scene.
Deadline for Submissions: 23 December 2013
Visit www.kalopsiacollective.co.uk to download an application form.
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
Click to view larger
This is a sneak peak at a snippet of one of a new series of embroideries that I’m working on.
The content for the works was generated via the internet and with that in mind I have stitched QR codes (like that pictured above) into the works which link back through to additional online content. This will include videos, images and audio relating to the theme of this work.
I tried stitching the codes at 32 stitches per inch but from my initial tests I realised these were a little small to scan effectively so I’ve enlarged them slightly for the final works. Of course different barcode scanners seem to be better than others when it comes to scanning these cross stitched QR codes. Using my iPhone I’ve found that the Red Laser app seems to be one of the most effective scanners.
Keep an eye out early in the new year for images of a number of the embroideries from this new series.
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
These embroidered photographic interventions are the work of artist Diane Meyer. By selecting a range of embroidery threads that match the colour palette in the photographs she has been able pixelate the images by hand using cross stitch.
The images in this particular series are all photographs of relics from the cold war in Berlin. By obscuring elements of the images the artist prevents them from being seen as snapshots of fixed points in time, instead opening up new possible histories within the images challenging “a futile attempt to make the fleeting memories of life permanent and ingrained“.
The soft thread used to obscure elements within the images provides a striking contrast against the stark concrete elements within the photographs. The stitches also transform the face of these photographs into tactile surfaces reinforcing the fact that these images exist in the present detached from the the distant memory that they might once have represented.
You can view more of Diane Meyer’s work on her website: www.dianemeyer.net
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
I’ve just published the first in a new series of embroidered artworks to my online portfolio at www.spikedennis.com.
The works, entitled Unicorn Dating, take the form of a series of hand embroidered subversive cross stitch samplers. The inspiration for the work originated through by research into the symbolic unicorn, and in particular the medieval tale which tells of how a unicorn can only be captured by a young virgin.
The design of these works draws inspiration from old European samplers as you might be able to tell from the image above. A number of the works have QR codes embroidered into them which provide links to content at www.unicorn-dating.com.
To view the works click here; but please bear in mind that there is a lot of graphic content and strong language contained within these works – you have been warned!
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
I’m starting 2014 as I finished 2013, by exhibiting with Kalopsia in Edinburgh. This is the second iteration of their What Is Textiles? exhibition and this time the show will be held at Kalopsia’s new exhibition space in Ocean Terminal, Leith, Edinburgh. This time around the exhibition will feature my Baba Yaga embroidery.
Dates: 1 – 15 February 2014
Open Launch Party: Saturday 1 February, 7pm-9pm
Opening hours: 2 – 15 February 10am-6pm
Location: Ocean Terminal, Leith, Edinburgh
What Is Textiles? A show that sees Textiles as a distinct artistic practice, that opens up the debate on “What is Textiles?”.
What is Textiles to you? Is it the touch, the pattern, the movement, the sound, the smell, the process, the making, the feeling, the thinking, the colour, the history, the space, the touch…?
Kalopsia have sourced innovative and exciting work from different fields; work that explores the idea and pushes the boundaries of what Textiles can be – giving Textiles have a space in the contemporary art scene.
To find out more about Kalopsia visit www.kalopsiacollective.co.uk
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - The blog of Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
I’m delighted to be exhibiting in Los Angeles again this year as a part of Stitch Fetish 2: Electric Boogaloo at the Hive Gallery, curated by Ellen Schinderman.
Stitch Fetish 2, at The Hive Gallery, will continue to explore the art of the stitch (a rite and fetish unto itself), revealing the fetishized secrets lurking in the minds of the artists. Works of erotica and titillation! Works of dark fantasy and longing. Works of secrets never told, but long desired.
The exhibition will feature work from my Unicorn Dating series of embroideries which are the culmination so far of my unicorn research, and the result of a personals advert placed on Craigslist.
Exhibition Dates: 8 February – 1 March 2014
Location: The Hive Gallery, 729 S Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90014, United States
Exhibiting artists include:
Bren Ahearn | Mark Bieraugel | Katharine Lawrie | Amy Goldsmith Sheridan | Meghan Willis | Tara Fields | Carol Powell | Ashford Harrison | Mo Powers | Judith Pudden | Robert Marbury | Pita Garcia | Matthew Monthei, | Erin M Riley | Shae Merrit | Kevin Muth aka Dirty Pillowz | David & Vesna Miller | Ken Amarit | Hine Mizushima | Luke Haynes | Billy Kheel | Oh Sew Nerdy | Rebeka Trigg | Spike Dennis | Maxine Shaw | Maggie Hunt | Iviva Olenick | Reavis Eitel | Leah Emery | Ellen Schinderman
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - The blog of Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
These embroidered plastic bags are from Nicoletta de la Brown’s El Barrio Bodega series of which she says:
Rescued from the gutter; blowing down the street like city tumbleweed. I reclaim and elevate what once was discarded by creating embellished art objects.
The combination of the time consuming heavily worked embroidery and the throw away nature of plastic carrier bags makes for a fascinating piece of work. Through skill and the dedication of time the everyday throw-away is promoted above its commonly held station and presented to us as an art object.
You can view more of work on Nicoletta’s Behance page here.
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - The blog of Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
This is a short, and slightly bonkers trailer for Stitch Fetish 2: Electric Boogaloo opening at the Hive Gallery next week. The video features teasers of some of the work on show and an introduction by curator Ellen Schinderman and her butler Wilkinson.
The exhibition will feature work from my Unicorn Dating series – you can read a little more about it here.
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - The blog of Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
Kalopsia opened their new gallery space at Ocean Terminal, Leith, Edinburgh, last Saturday evening with the launch of the second iteration of their What Is Textiles? exhibition.
The exhibition features my Baba Yaga embroidery but unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it all the way up to Edinburgh for the launch event. From the video above it looks like the evening was a great success which drew a great number of visitors to the gallery.
The exhibition runs until the 15 February. Find out more on the Kalopsia website - www.kalopsiacollective.co.uk
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - The blog of Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
I forgot to post some images of this little creation last month. It’s a jewellery/necklace rack that I made as a Christmas present for Mother Spike.
As you can see, I used some “vintage” look porcelain door knobs for the hooks which sat really nicely against the driftwood which was bound together with twine.
I’d originally thought that it might have doubled up as a coat rack as well but the driftwood is a little weak to take the weight of coats. It’s perfect for hanging necklaces off though.
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - The blog of Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
This is a little Valentines day gift that I created from some laser cut wooden hearts. I embellished the heart with a cross stitched wolf design in purple thread.
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From Spikeworld. | Spikeworld - The blog of Spike Dennis | Artist, Maker, Curator and Colloaborator
I’m rather excited at the prospect of a new Quay Brothers film. I’ve been a fan for some time and have actually been re-watching some of their old films of late as I work towards a video with the Baba Yaga puppets that I have been working on.
Their new film ‘Unmistaken Hands: Ex Voto F.H.’ has been commissioned by the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University and like much of the Quay Brothers work it relies on stop motion production techniques. The film is based on the work of Uruguayan writer Felisberto Hernãndez; often referred to as the father of “magic realism”
Whilst the film that I’m planning will be quite different to the Quay Brothers work in may regards I’ve been looking closely at some of the techniques that they use interns of editing and sound design. Whilst the trailer for their new film (above) is narrated I’m am also interested in how they manage to convey a sense of narrative in some of their older work without the use of words.
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